The wonders of WonderCon

Wonder Con in Anaheim, Calif. had its largest attendance of over 50,000 geeks, nerds, cos-players and pop-culture enthusiast packed inside the Anaheim Convention Center for three days of panels, podcast and premieres.

The word con is usually synonymous with heist or robbery, but today con is short for convention and the rise of San Diego’s Comic Con International has made these conventions not miss events full of merchandise exclusives, film and television show sneak peaks and the celebrities that endorse their most recent projects. Wonder Con 2014 was on the weekend of April 18-20 and had the very best of comic books, television and films.

Wonder Con is making a significant mark in the convention world, getting huge movie franchises and properties into the Anaheim Convention Center with thousands of fans excitedly waiting exclusive footage of this year’s summer blockbusters including, “Godzilla,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” and “X-Men: Days of the Future Past.”

The weekend started with the awe of the many different elaborate costumes fans had made by hand and scotch tape, inspiring the “cos-play” movement further.

Most of the attention was given to the Arena, which has a capacity of 7,500 seats with fans anticipating special sneak peek screenings of Warner Bros. television shows “The 100,” “Teen Titans Go!,” and “Revolution.” This also included the world premiere of the animated movie “Son of Batman.”

The biggest panels came from Fox and Warner Bros. Entertainment, although there was there was not much in surprises or exclusives during these presentations.

The highlights came from Bill Paxton speaking candidly and honestly about his role in film like “Aliens” and his new film “Edge of Tomorrow” starting Tom Cruise. But the biggest news came when Gareth Edwards director of the new “Godzilla” film showed nearly ten minutes of never before seen footage and reveling a monstrous spoiler, that Godzilla’s nemesis Mothra will be in the film as well.

Batman was everywhere at Wonder Con as DC celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Cape Crusader. One of the most anticipated panels was about Batman’s 75 years in all media, headlined by Kevin Smith, Ralph Garman, Kevin Conroy and Bruce Timm.

Cartoon Network gave their fans many panels, none as fun and entertaining as their “Regular Show” and “Adventure Time” panels, which gave live readings, prizes and exclusive animatics of future episodes.

Chris Hardwick and his Nerdist company came to Wonder Con to do live episodes of their popular podcast “The Indoor Kids” based on video games and hosted by comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily Gordon, “James Bonding” which reviews every “James Bond” film and hosted by comedian Matt Mira and Matt Gourley and The “Nerdist” panel talked about the upcoming event for the Nerdist network.

The enormity of pop culture can be seen in Wonder Con. The love and passion for these properties are apparent and expressed by every fan and creator involved at the convention.